Skip to main content

Pasta Al Bakunin



The name is from Little Italy, my favorite Italian restaurant. The recipe's all my own, an attempt to recreate the pasta I order every time when I go there.

To start off, roughly chop 4 tomatoes and 1/2 red bell pepper. Also peel and smash up 3 cloves of garlic. Put all these in a blender with 2 tbsp tomato puree, salt and a tsp of dried oregano. Blend until you get a thick paste.

Wash 8-10 mushrooms, take off the stems and cut them into quarters. Thinly slice an onion lengthwise. Chop 2 tbsp of parsley real fine. Also bring out a tbsp of capers but keep them aside for now.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan. Add onions and mushrooms and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomato paste that you just made and 1/3 cup of red wine. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let everything simmer until the sauce thickens. It took around 40 minutes when I made this. When the sauce is close to how think you want it but not quite there yet, add your capers, half the parsley and ground black pepper. Mix it all in and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

In the meantime, boil penne or any other pasta you like as per package directions. Drain and mix well with the sauce. Top with the remaining parsley.

Comments

Veggie Hut said…
Interesting Preparation of Pasta!
Adele said…
I'm always glad to hear other people also always order the same thing when they go to a restaurant. Always stick with a winner, methinks. Are you happy with your version? It looks delicious.
notyet100 said…
luv the name,looks delicious,..
CurryLeaf said…
Interesting name and the sauce. Here they make a pasta with red and white sauce called "berbere?"(splng not sure.I have missed it in the menu) I have not tried it,but LI spinach cannelloni and garden veg lasagna are to die for . Keep it coming Simran. Next time I go there, I am planning to try both bakunin sauce as well as berbere.
AJ said…
Delicious!! Loving it!!
Nachiketa said…
I love Little Italy too..... ate there for the first time in Mumbai n then later in Hyderabad...

The past's looking very interesting....

Cheers,
The Variable, Crazy Over Desserts - Nachiketa
Catch me on facebook @ Crazy Over Desserts

Popular posts from this blog

Kadhi Chawal

I just can't think of what to write today. That's what my absolute favorite meal does to me, I just want to stop talking and dig right in. So I won't ramble and go straight on the recipe for kadhi. First, make the pakoras that would go in the kadhi. Slice an onion lengthwise. Make a batter with 1/2 cup chickpea flour (besan), salt, red chilli powder and water. Dip onions in this batter and deep fry until crisp. Keep aside. Now blend 1 cup yogurt and 1/3 cup besan into a paste. Add 3-4 cups water to make a very thin blend. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add a tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, ajwain (carom seeds) and methre (fenugreek seeds). Let splutter for a few seconds. Now add a large onion, cut lengthwise into thin slices and cook until browned lightly. Pour in the yogurt/besan mix and add 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp red chilli powder. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour. You have to stir this occasio...

Bibimbap

This is the reason I love taking part in Taste & Create . There is so much new to learn and try when you meet new partners. This month, I am visiting Kitschow in Vancouver for a course in Asian cooking. She also tries a lot of other cuisines, but wok is her favorite way to cook. I first thought I'd find very little vegetarian choice at her place. But as luck would have it, she has recently done a lot of vegetarian cooking and eating for lent and I had a virtual rainbow to pick from. Everything looked so delicious it was tough to pick one. I picked the one with the cutest name : Bibimbap . Bibimbap is a Korean rice, usually topped with beef and vegetables but Kitschow made a vegan version for Lent. The recipe has three parts. First you cook the rice. Then, when it's almost done but is still moist, you arrange vegetables on top so it looks colorful and pretty. For the vegan version, Kitschow just put raw veggies there and let them cook in the steam. But I liked the i...

Dukkah

Talk about myths busted. I went to Dubai planning to buy zat'ar, the fragrant herb and spice mix. And Dukkah, the interesting blend of nuts and spices. Not sumac, because I still have a pack left in my fridge. So zat'ar was easy - every Carrefour supermarket had that one. But no one had dukkah and I was like, how can they not have dukkah? It's a middle eastern thing, right! But well, they don't sell dukkah in Dubai, so I came back and armed with recipes from 10-odd blogs (all roughly the same), I set to make my own. The key to making dukkah is : line up all your ingredients, toast each of them separately in a heavy non-stick pan till they are fragrant and lightly roasted, then put everything in a blender and grind coarsely. This is your dukkah. Now dip your bread in olive oil, then dip it in dukkah and indulge. A final word of warning: this can be highly addictive. And finally, my list of ingredients: 1/4 cup almonds 2 tbsp coriander seeds 1 1/2 tbsp sesame...